Blair jolts. “What? How did you know I used to like drawing stars?”
“You went to the same school as me. Little Boulder Academy.”
“Wait, seriously?” Blair turns in my arms to face me.
“We had an art class together in third grade. You showed me your stars.” I tug her closer, playing with her hair while I murmur my secrets. “You knew I was sad, even though I didn’t say anything. Despite my efforts to be the grumpy little shit I was, you came right up to me and sat down.”
Blair gasps, recognition morphing her expression.
“You told me to make a wish on your star and I did.” I wet my lips. “Whenever I felt alone, I wished on stars.”
Blair cups my face. She’s surprised, awe-struck. “You really were the same boy.”
I turn my cheek into her palm. “I was. I didn’t remember until recently. After you left, I wasn’t happy.” I lock my arms around her small waist. “I wanted you to come back.”
“I wish I could’ve.” Blair’s expression falls, then hardens with bitterness. “That was because my dad left. He ran out on us. Dumped all of his gambling debt on my mom.”
The explanation clears up what little information I pieced together from what I found out about her. With the filled in gaps, I can guess how it shaped Blair to go through that as a kid, and why she fights so hard to protect her mom.
Blair shakes her head, an angry wrinkle marring her brow. “He destroyed everything we had because he was selfish. He left Mom to clean up the mess.”
I press our foreheads together. “I’m sorry. Not just that you went through that, but for being a dick, too. I’m sorry I hurt you.”
Not entirely sorry for what my actions put in motion, though. My morals run gray. If I hadn’t started the war between us, we might not be here right now.
She chuckles. “Damn right. But, I mean, I’m not totally innocent here. I did try to steal your car for revenge against your supreme assholery.”
I hum, massaging her ass. “That’s what I like best about you, angel.”
Blair ducks her head, biting my shoulder. We wrestle playfully for a few minutes.
Leaning back against the rocks lining the hot tub, I rake a hand through my hair.
“All this time…” I trail off, leaving the rest left unsaid.
“Yeah,” Blair echoes, picking up on what I didn’t voice.
All this time I wasted on hating her, and here she’s the one who gave me one of my only salvations.
The little girl with the stars and the stubborn thief who steals all of my attention, one and the same.
The way my heart thunders around her is new and unfamiliar, but I think I’m beginning to understand what it means.
Thirty-Three
Devlin
A week of bliss passes where Blair and I are wrapped around each other every minute she’s home.
I’ve been working up to asking if she wants me to go with her when she visits her mom in the hospital every other day after school. It’s a silly idea, maybe. But I want to be with Blair all the time.
Then we’re in the middle of dinner when my parents come home out of nowhere. No notice. They intrude on my bubble with Blair.
The fork pauses halfway to my open mouth when Mom and Dad stand in the entrance to the kitchen, dumping their things without acknowledging us.
Blair darts an unsure look from my parents to me. I’m as surprised as she is. This hasn’t happened before, either.
“Mom.” I clear my throat, setting down my fork. “You’re home.”